by Sandra Lee
‘We’ve rid the world of hundreds of trained killers who will now not slaughter innocent men, women and children,’ Hagenbeck told reporters in Bagram on 14 March 2002.
US intelligence received credible information that after about 36 to 48 hours into the fight, al Qaeda leaders called for hundreds of wooden coffins to be brought into the valley. On the fourth day of the fight, another call went out to al Qaeda and Taliban fighters to bring in trucks and SUVs to extract their dead.
‘The coffins never got in and the SUVs and any vehicles that tried to enter the area never got in,’ Hagenbeck said then.
Ultimately, General Hagenbeck is pleased with the outcome of Operation Anaconda, in the course of which eight Americans and three friendly Afghan soldiers were killed and another 80 coalition soldiers wounded.
‘When we talk about it being the first big battle of the twenty-first century it has everything to do with the fact that it was a coalition fight; that it was “joint” — meaning that we had the Army, the Air Force and Navy [and] Marine pilots that were involved in it; that we had what we called an integrated battlefield; and that it was fought at great distances and that we used high-tech enablers to assist us in the fight,’ Hagenbeck says.
‘I think that portends the kind of fight that may be more common in the 21st century [rather] than the large land battles like the attack to Baghdad.’
Would General Hagenbeck have done anything different?
‘I think I would be foolish to say no, but in the end run I am pretty pleased with the outcome of this,’ he says.
At the end of the initial phase of Operation Anaconda, the US Army’s Major Bryan Hilferty, who was based at Bagram and had the role of issuing daily briefings and conducting press conferences with reporters, said: ‘We have destroyed their command and control. We have destroyed their caches [of weapons]. We have killed hundreds of the al Qaeda terrorists who now will not be around to kill innocent men, women and children.’
The war was not over yet, he said, because some al Qaeda and Taliban fighters remained in the valley. ‘Do you have every single bit of every place covered? No … But if I was an al Qaeda guy, I would not be going out for pizza.’
While Hilferty had a dry sense of humour and a matter-of-fact delivery, he began each press conference with a sombre statement, reminding the war correspondents how many days had passed since al Qaeda launched its attack on American soil, killing thousands of people at the start of a beautiful autumn day on September 11. He then read one of several obituaries about an al Qaeda victim that were published daily in The New York Times. When done, it was back to business detailing the war effort.
The battle strategy, efficacy of the intelligence gathering and estimates of enemy numbers, and subsequent battle casualties will continue to be debated among the services that participated in Operation Anaconda. But there is one thing on which they agree, and that is the strength and success of the contribution of 150 members of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment involved in Anaconda and the subsequent troops who followed them into Afghanistan on rotation months later.
US Generals Franks and Hagenbeck and non-coms such as Grippe and Healy all have nothing but praise for the Australian soldiers who fought alongside the Americans, particularly Jock and Clint and the SAS troops who would be involved in a rescue mission at a place called Roberts Ridge three days later. Healy says Clint still owes him a couple of cigars.
Sean Naylor in his book Not a Good Day to Die writes that ‘of all the non-American forces involved in Anaconda, it was the Australians who inspired the most confidence among the US officers’. They were, according to Naylor, ‘perhaps the most tightly bonded, least rearranged unit in Anaconda’.
At the end of March, the Australian Defence Minister, Senator Robert Hill, sent the second rotation of about 150 SAS troopers to Afghanistan, offering nothing but complimentary words for the 150 soldiers they were about to relieve.
‘All reports that I get are that they’ve done extraordinarily well on the ground, and they are highly regarded for what they’ve achieved. In fact, it almost becomes embarrassing, the level of praise we get from our coalition colleagues,’ Senator Hill said.
Frank Grippe, who has since completed two tours of duty in Iraq, speaks from direct experience. He spent eighteen hours with Jock Wallace and WO2 Clint in Hell’s Halfpipe, and he had seen them in action in the days leading up to Anaconda, preparing their missions and attending briefings.
‘Jock, through the day, kept tabs on his sergeant major, kept good communications up, returned fire, and never once was he a flinching type,’ Grippe says.
‘Passed information back and forth where he would see enemy. He engaged the enemy. Unwavering type of guy. Never had a bad attitude. Not that anyone really had a bad attitude.’
Grippe also understood that the SAS troopers assigned to his infantry division had to adapt to the way a foreign force did business. Not only that, Jock and Clint were special operators and they were attached to a conventional battalion. It’s one thing to be among your own special operators with your own language, but it’s quite another thing to be attached to a new and different unit under combat. Grippe was impressed with the two Australian SAS soldiers’ adaptability and capabilities.
‘In our forces, especially my battalion, we pull up everyone under our wing and make them feel comfortable,’ Grippe says. ‘And I knew they felt like they were a part of the team. And I knew they were a part of the team and it was great to have them there.
‘When you have two Special Air Service guys with you, you know those are two guys you have no issues with. You know their marksmanship is going to be right on, they are going to be unwavering in the fight, they have the needed medical skills, and they have the extra communications gear that we needed.’
Several days after Operation Anaconda had begun, the commander of Australia’s Special Operations, Brigadier Duncan Lewis, commended Jock and Clint’s actions at the first press conference in Australia which explored in some detail the SAS patrols’ activities.
‘Throughout the engagement, the Australian soldiers continued to relay vital information back to headquarters,’ Lewis told reporters. ‘Their information was key to the subsequent planning of the successful extraction of this force.’
And it was.
But to Jock, the real heroes were the blokes like his mate Johnny who was still out on patrol.
In the coming days, SAS troopers in a hidden observation post high in the mountains, where the temperature had fallen to minus 19 degrees Celsius, would call in devastatingly successful air strikes on enemy positions during a daring rescue mission. The action helped save 36 American Special Forces soldiers under direct enemy fire after a helicopter was shot down on Takur Ghar, an incident in which six US soldiers were killed. SAS soldiers were part of the rescue team that eventually evacuated the trapped soldiers and retrieved their fallen comrades from Roberts Ridge.
SAS men also risked their lives doing surveillance and reconnaissance missions, sometimes using donkeys, reminiscent of Simpson and his donkey in Gallipoli. They engaged the enemy up close. Some troopers like Jock would go on to be honoured for their bravery, including Sergeant Matthew Bouillaut who received the Distinguished Service Cross for outstanding command of a patrol in a later incident in Anaconda. The entire SAS Regiment would ultimately receive a Meritorious Unit Citation for their outstanding contribution in Afghanistan in Operation Slipper. The SAS patrols eventually were withdrawn from the Shahi Kot Valley on 13 March — having outstayed every other Special Forces unit.
Clint and Jock were waiting at the gate when the wild and woolly SAS troopers came in.
‘There were two people at that gate when the squadron came home. It was me and Clint. We both knew that we wanted to welcome these guys who had been watching our back, who had been out there before us and came back after us,’ Jock says with typical self-deprecation, downplaying his own bravery and achievements.
‘And these were
the guys, they’re real SAS. The shit’s been sorted from the sugar, and this is the core of the sugar coming in. It’s good sugar, fine quality. I’ve never felt so proud watching them come in.
‘That was the best feeling. Elation and relief simultaneously, and pride; you know, mateship to the point of brotherhood.
‘These guys, they’re men. The guys I’m talking about aren’t shirkers, they’re the real SAS, real Aussies. Unstoppable — mentally and, obviously, physically. They sit out the lows and they ride the highs and kick arse everywhere else in between.’
Jock hadn’t seen Johnny for a while but knew exactly what he’d been up to in the valley. Chooks are communicators. Jock had a camera and began taking happy snaps as soon as the troops came through the gate.
‘I remember Johnny coming around the corner and he looked like the rabbit out of Alice in Wonderland that was possessed by the devil or something,’ Jock says now. ‘He had this huge mad grin on his face; beard out here; his hair was like a lion’s. He used to have blond tips but they’ve grown out, so it looks like camouflage. He took his goggles off and had a big white patch over his face and the rest of it was a sea of dust. And he had a big white smile. It was the best photo.
‘I, certainly, am under no illusions … they had the harder part of the task, and mine was simply circumstance and luck that sort of got us through.’
But luck had little to do with Jock Wallace surviving the Shahi Kot Valley. Courage and gallantry under fire did.
As the now retired four-star general Tommy Franks said of the Australians’ actions in Operation Anaconda, ‘I’m not sure it will ever be fully declassified, [but it] literally brings tears to my eyes. The Aussies brought bravery to a whole new level.’
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSERT
Martin Wallace and his older brother, James, at the family’s country home outside Tamworth in rural New South Wales, circa 1974.
Courtesy Margaret Wallace
Martin ‘Jock’ Wallace and his mother, Margaret, the day before Martin officially completed the basic training for all new recruits at Kapooka Army Base in 1987.
Courtesy Margaret Wallace
Jock Wallace flanked by his father, Reginald, and brother, James, after his march-out parade at Kapooka, 9.5km southwest of Wagga Wagga in country New South Wales.
Courtesy Margaret Wallace
Jock Wallace (second from right) standing at ease on the parade ground at Kapooka, an Aboriginal word for ‘place of wind’.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
Jock Wallace threw himself into the basic training for new recruits after joining the Australian Army in 1987.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
Courtesy Martin Wallace
The Australian Army appealed to the adventurer in Jock Wallace and gave him a chance to escape the borders of his boyhood hometown.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
Jock Wallace landed in the dead of night on this desert runway outside FOB Rhino in southwestern Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
With the Australian flag flying patriotically above their temporary accommodation in Afghanistan, Australian SAS troops take a break from action during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
US Army Major Bryan Hilferty (left), who delivered the daily press briefings during Operation Anaconda at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, stands with colleagues under the Rakkasans’ symbol at FOB Kandahar in 2002.
Courtesy Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty
Jock Wallace never went anywhere in Afghanistan without his 5.56mm fully automatic M4 weapon — even the gym. He called the gun his ‘American Express card’.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
Jock wrote frequently to his mother, Margaret, often penning a quick note on whatever he could find, including an MRE package.
Photo by Frank Violi
Despite the freezing temperatures in the high mountains of Afghanistan, the sun could burn through winter cold giving Jock a warm but brief break outside the Australians’ sleeping quarters.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
After a visit from Major General Franklin ‘Buster’ Hagenbeck, who wished them ‘good luck and good hunting’, the Australian SAS patrols leave Bagram Air Base for their patrols in the Shahi Kot Valley.
Courtesy Australian Army
The long-range patrol vehicle (LRPV) was effective in all weather conditions in Afghanistan and could traverse snow-covered muddy tracks, vast deserts and mountainous terrain.
Courtesy Australian Army
At dusk on the eve of Operation Anaconda, American troops from the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain divisions gathered for Colonel Frank Wiercinski’s rallying speech outside tent city at Bagram Air Base. Standing on a Humvee, he told the soldiers: ‘We have been called on to fight the war on terrorism.’
Photo by John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
Photo by John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
Major General Hagenbeck (legs crossed) reviews the battle plan for Operation Anaconda around a terrain model in late February 2002. Commanders of all divisions were involved in the planning, including the Australian SAS chief, Lieutenant Colonel Rowan Tink (third from right).
Photo by John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
Illuminated by a nearly full moon, on 2 March 2002 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, C Company, 2nd Battalion 187th Infantry Regiment, prepare to board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for the flight into Shahi Kot Valley to attack al Qaeda and Taliban forces.
Photo by John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
Members of the Coalition Joint Task Force Mountain stand in prayer inside the TOC moments after Hagenbeck (centre) gave orders for Operation Anaconda to move forward. It was the time scheduled in the battle plan for a ‘go’ or ‘no go’ decision.
Photo by John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
An SAS trooper with the Australian flag laid out on the valley floor takes a break during Anaconda. Smoke from the coalition’s bombs and ordnance can be seen rising over the mountain in the background.
Courtesy Australian Army
One of the 10th Mountain Division’s mortar platoon soldiers, Private First Class David Brown, combat-crawls up the snow-patched slope of Hell’s Halfpipe on D-Day.
Courtesy Sergeant First Class Michael Peterson, US Army (retired)
Two SAS troopers operating from their secure observation posts high in the mountains surrounding the Shahi Kot Valley during Operation Anaconda.
Courtesy Australian Army
Jock Wallace in the early hours of D-Day defending his position in the southern end of Hell’s Halfpipe against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters hidden on the eastern ridge of the Takur Ghar. US soldiers are in the background immediately behind Jock and on the slope in the distance.
Photo by SAS Warrant Officer Class 2 Clint
Standing beside their much envied LRPVs — otherwise known as ‘devil vehicles’ by the enemy — SAS patrols review the situation in Afghanistan.
Courtesy Australian Army
As night approached, and with Jock and Clint still in Hell’s Halfpipe, SAS Commander Lieutenant Colonel Rowan Tink (centre) was inside the TOC discussing Anaconda’s progress with US Army Major Lundy (left) and Hagenbeck’s chief of staff, Colonel Joseph Smith (right).
Photo John Berry, courtesy The Post-Standard
Jock Wallace and two fellow Australian SAS Anaconda veterans at Bagram in March 2002. The SAS contingent received a Meritorious Unit Citation for their outstanding contribution in Afghanistan.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
A few days after his harrowing eighteen hours on D-Day in Operation Anaconda in March 2002, Jock Wallace relaxed outside the main hangar at Bagram Air Base.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
SAS patrols operated in all conditions and across all terrain in Afghanistan. When travelling on foot, they occasionally relied on old-fashioned techniques to transport equip
ment, including using donkeys the troopers named Simpson, Murphy, and Roy and HG.
Courtesy Australian Army
SAS troops on patrol in the badlands of Southern Afghanistan.
Courtesy Australian Army
Jock and Clint were at the gates at Bagram to welcome back the SAS soldiers from their fourteen-day-long patrols in the Shahi Kot. The Australian troopers, including Jock’s mate Johnny, stayed in the field longer than any other Special Forces operators.
Courtesy Martin Wallace
The 10th Mountain Division’s Lieutenant Colonel Paul LaCamera (left) and Sergeant Major Frank Grippe (centre) attend the Bronze Star medal ceremony for US soldiers inside the hangar at Bagram soon after Anaconda was declared a victory.
Courtesy Sergeant First Class Michael Peterson
Sergeant Pete from the 10th Mountain Division’s 120mm mortar platoon after receiving the prestigious Bronze Star for Valor for his actions in Operation Anaconda. CentCom commander Tommy Franks flew in from Florida to present the medals.
Courtesy Sergeant First Class Michael Peterson
One of the many Bronze Stars awarded to soldiers who took part in Operation Anaconda.
Courtesy Sergeant First Class Michael Peterson
Jock Wallace’s gold Medal for Gallantry has pride of place on the left, alongside his campaign and service medals. Above the medals are Jock’s Unit Citation, Chief of General Staff Commendation, and Returned from Active Service badges.
Photo by Frank Violi
Nine months after Operation Anaconda ended Margaret Wallace received this invitation to her son’s investiture ceremony for the Medal for Gallantry to be held on 27 November 2002.